Starch tray for confectionery production



y 7, 1968 F. w. ROTHERHAM 3,381,839

STARCH TRAY FOR CONFECTIONERY PRODUCTION Filed April 25, 1967 United States Patent 3,381,839 STARCH TRAY FOR CONFECTIONERY PRODUCTION Frank William Rotherham, Rydalmere, New South Wales, Australia, assignor to R. F. Products Pty. Limited, Gladesville, New South Wales, Australia, a corporation of New South Wales, Australia Filed Apr. 25, 1967, Ser. No. 633,499 Claims priority, application Australia, Apr. 26, 1966, 4,648/ 66 6 Claims. (Cl. 217-1) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A starch tray particularly for confectionery manufacture comprising a rectangular plywood floor having its lateral portions curved upwardly to form side walls, the ends of the tray being closed by end walls of timber panels secured to the floor and the inner face of the side walls, feet under the corners of the tray floor, and a timber moulding having a concave face and a squared edge fastened beneath each side wall to provide an upright outer surface therefor.

This invention relates to starch trays. It particularly relates to trays for confectionery manufacture and more particularly to such trays used with automatic machinery.

It was at one time the practice to produce starch trays to be used in automatic machinery for confectionery manufacture from separate pieces of timber all of which were glued and screwed together. Due to the comparatively rough treatment of these trays by the automatic machinery the screws often worked loose and lodged in the starch or even the comestibles themselves produced by the machinery.

In more recent times attempts have been made to provide plywood floors for the trays upwardly curved along their longitudinal edges to form the side walls. The advantages of avoiding square corners within the tray where deposits of starch might accumulate and deteriorate, are much appreciated in the industry. However, in most automatic machinery now in use, advancement of the trays therethrough relies upon automatic registration with the outer face of each trays side walls. Due to the lack of square external corners and upright side walls with the attempted uses of plywood, efficient advancement of the trays could not be maintained.

It is a prime object of this invention to provide a new and improved starch tray particularly, but not only, suitable for use with automatic confectionery machinery, which has only few corner recesses and whose side walls are provided with substantially flat upright outer surfaces.

It is a further object to provide a starch tray of this kind which is of strong construction without the use of nails, screws or other removable fastening elements.

In one general form the invention provides a starch tray comprising a rectangular plywood floor, a pair of opposite side walls formed by arcuately bending the longitudinal edge portions of the plywood floor, opposite end walls formed by panels secured to end portions of the inner face of the floor and side walls, a length of square edged concave moulding positioned beneath the outer face of the arcuate side walls, supporting feet beneath the end walls, and dowels passing through the floor and into the supporting feet and the end walls.

A preferred embodiment of the invention in which the starch tray is designed for use with confectionery machinery is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

Patented May 7, 1968 FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a starch tray constructed according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation thereof;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary end elevation to an enlarged scale; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary exploded perspective view to an enlarged scale of the component parts of the star-ch tray.

According to the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated by the drawings the starch tray 5 consists of a rectangular plywood fioor 6 curved along its opposite longitudinal edge portions to form a pair of arcuately bent confronting side Walls 7. Preferably, the arcuate bend 8 in the floor 6 is made through approximately The two open ends of the starch tray 5 are enclosed by opposite end walls composed of timber panels 9 radiused at their outer lower corners 10 to match the internal shape 8 of the side walls 7. The end wall panels 9 are rested upon the floor 6 and between the ends of the side walls 7 and glued in position. The upper rims of the four walls 7 and 9 of the tray are coplanar.

The outer face of the floor 6 in the region of the curved side walls 8 possesses a convex surface at the precise position where registering contact is made with the tray 5 for its automatic positioning and advancement through the machinery (not shown). Such a surface 8 is unsuited for efiicient registration, and to overcome this fiaw a length of square edged moulding 11 concavely recessed along its length is placed in contact with the convex surface 8A extending along the lower side of each side wall 7 of the tray 5. Each length of moulding 11 is glued in position so that its square edge 12 forms an outside corner for its respective side wall 7.

Timber blocks are placed in each corner of the tray 5 beneath its fioor 6 and are glued thereto to form supporting feet 13. Each supporting foot 13, the corner of the floor 6 and the portion of the end wall 9 overlying the foot 13, are drilled and dowel plugs 14 are cemented therein. Each supporting foot 13 has one of its ends 15 extending beneath the respective end of one of the two mouldings 11 to provide for additional support thereof. A horizontal dowel plug 14 may be inserted through the upright face of each end of each moulding 11 and through the upright wall 7 into the end of the end panel 9.

It is believed that the features and advantages of this invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art and it will, of course, be understood that minor changes in the form, proportion and details of construction may be resorted to without departure from the concept of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. A starch tray comprising a rectangular plywood floor, a pair of opposite side walls formed by arcuately bending the longitudinal edge portions of the plywood floor, opposite end walls formed by panels secured to end portions of the inner face of the floor and side walls, a length of square edged concave moulding positioned beneath the outer face of the arcuate side walls, supporting feet beneath the end walls, and dowels passing through the floor and into the supporting feet and the end walls.

2. A starch tray as claimed in claim 1, wherein the supporting feet extend beneath respective end portions of the mouldings.

3. A starch tray as claimed in claim 2, wherein the supporting feet, the mouldings, the floor and the end panels all are cemented together.

4. A starch tray comprising a rectangular plywood floor, a pair of opposite side walls integral with the floor and connected thereto by a curved bend having an outer convex surface, a timber panel bridging the ends of the side walls at each end of the floor and having a radiused corner at each of its ends to mate with the inner surface of a respective curved bend to form an end wall, square edged concave moulding positioned with its concave surface against the convex surface of each curved bend and its square edge forming a sharp corner beneath each side wall, a supporting foot beneath each end portion of each end wall and extending beneath the end of the respective moulding, and dowels passing through the floor and into the end walls and the supporting feet.

5. A starch tray as claimed in claim 4, comprising also a dowel passing through each moulding and respective side wall into the end of each end wall.

6. A starch tray as claimed in claim 5, wherein two or more dowels connect each supporting foot to an end wall, and one dowel connects each end of a moulding to an end of a respective end wall.

No references cited.

RAPHAEL H. SCHWARTZ, Primary Examiner. 

